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USDA emphasizes safety net priority

The Secretary of Ag says crop insurance remains a top priority for farmers in the 2018 Farm Bill.

Sonny Perdue says farmers would rather receive a fair price for the crop they produce than rely on a program, but a balanced safety net is necessary.

“When nature doesn’t cooperate then they can do it again,” he says. “You never get made whole with crop insurance, you never get made whole with a program, but we don’t want it to be a career-ending situation either.”

He says a lot of progress was made for crop insurance to mitigate risk in the 2014 Farm Bill, but there will likely be some tweaks made in the upcoming farm bill for cotton and dairy.

“Probably separating the producers from the produce – cows from milk, cotton from lint and seed, and those kind of areas,” he says.

Perdue says he can’t speak for Congress on what the final decision will be to correct the problems with the programs, but those are a few of the options being discussed.

Perdue has talked with farmers during listening sessions in 28 states.

Audio: Sonny Perdue, USDA Agriculture Secretary